SHOOTING THE BREEZE WITH ... Padres executive A.J. Hinch

SAN DIEGO – A.J. Hinch was hired as the Padres' vice president
of pro scouting on Sept. 20, 2010, several months after he had been
dismissed as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hinch also had worked in the Diamondbacks' front office as minor
league director and in several other capacities. The North County
Times recently caught up with Hinch to discuss returning to the
front office, why he became a manager and Arizona's first-place
standing.

Question: How much are you enjoying being back in the
front office?

Answer
: I enjoy being involved in the game. To
me, being able to be back in the front office is very fun, it's
challenging and San Diego has been a great landing spot for me
after what has been a crazy couple of years.

Q: I heard a story that before your playing career ended
you attended the winter meetings in 2003 to look into a
post-baseball career?

A
: It was the (general manager's) meetings, and
they were in Phoenix. The story has been a little overblown in that
I wasn't soliciting jobs. I had breakfast with (Oakland's) Billy
Beane, who was a former GM of mine. But I never envisioned stopping
playing. I stopped after the 2005 season. I've always been
intrigued by life after playing, and the meetings were in my
backyard. It's important to get as much information – at that point
in my career I wasn't an everyday player, I wasn't in a multiyear
deal, I wasn't going to play for next 10 years. So I always had my
eyes set on post-career, and the front office side was something
that intrigued me.

Q: Why make the switch to manager?

A
: That move caught a lot of people off-guard,
myself included. I never really gave it much thought until it was
presented to me. To me, taking the opportunity was about taking a
risk, getting back on the field. I felt like I was equipped to do
the job, and certainly it was a golden opportunity for me to take.
It certainly wasn't a natural career path or something I expected,
because I, quite frankly, probably would have entertained staying
on the field right after playing. But I went to the front
office.

Q: How closely related are the front office and a field
job?

A
: A lot of people have put front office and
field far apart, and they're not. It's a marriage that relies on
each other. My playing background and being involved in the game
from the field was what led to the interest in getting back on the
field. It wasn't a foreign territory to me.

Q: So it wasn't uncomfortable for you then?

A
: No it wasn't uncomfortable at all. The
people around me were more uncomfortable than I was because I had
worn a collared shirt and dress pants for a couple of years, and
all of a sudden the time I had spent in the dugout was soon
forgotten. I think it's important for everyone to understand the
synergy between the front office and the dugout is very important
for successful franchises. No matter what uniform you wear,
everyone is after the same thing, which is winning.

Q: Are you keeping an eye on what Arizona is doing this
year?

A
: They're in our division, so they're right in
our face. Again, you don't just cut off ties. They cut off ties
with me working there, but I had Miguel Montero in the minor
leagues and major leagues. I had Stephen Drew, Justin Upton in the
minors when I was the farm director and in the majors. You don't
just turn them off. I've followed them as closely as you would
expect and realizing that a lot of the foundation that we were
apart of is still alive. There were some changes made in doing
things differently, and it looks like they've got the right mixture
and have had quite a year.

Q: You had been there since 2005, correct?

A
: The reality is that a lot of people
contribute to teams, especially during transitions. There's enough
credit to go around, and the change in environment looks to be ...
you know, I had (Kirk Gibson) on my staff. He was there and worked
very hard when I was manager and he was bench coach. I do feel a
part of building that foundation of success that they've had. But
that's not to take away from the things they've done to shift
direction, because things weren't going very well when I was
dismissed.

Q: Were you confident another job would arise after you
were terminated?

A
: You never know. At that moment, it's not the
highest moment of your career. There's so much adrenaline, so much
going on and the chaos that ensued that I went on vacation for a
month and went to Lake Tahoe with my wife and kids. I took the
summer off. You're hopeful, and I felt like if somebody thought I
was able to contribute to their organization they would certainly
call. I'm fortunate enough to have built relationships and people
felt like I had value here.

Q: What would your ideal job be?

A
: I don't know. I enjoy what I'm doing now,
being back in the front office. I took a pit stop in the dugout for
a little while. My take on stuff like that is to be very
open-minded about opportunities and being part of a
championship-caliber team, wherever an organization feels like I'm
a good fit. I'm trying to contribute in any way. I get to work in
baseball, and that's a very big privilege and something I don't
take for granted.